Drummer and composer Tommaso Cappellato leads a new configuration of his Astral Travel ensemble, a tribute to Spiritual Jazz involving some of the most prominent improvisers of the Italian Jazz scene today. Inspired by the poetry of Sun Ra inscribed within the pages of “This Planet Is Doomed”, the music and lyrics zoom in on the contemporary planetary consciousness, raising questions and issues of humanity’s collective spiritual direction. Vocalists Dwight Trible and Camilla Battaglia sing and declaim the poems, enveloped in a spontaneous musical magma collectively created by Cappellato on drums along with pianist Fabrizio Puglisi, reeds player Piero Bittolo-Bon, who also contributes to the electronic soundscape, and double bassist Marco Privato. The work contained in this album is the result of live-in-studio improvisations deconstructed in a meticulous and detailed post-production process by Lebanese electronic avant-garde music producer Rabih Beaini, a longtime collaborator of Cappellato.

Created in memory of Cappellato’s late mentor and composer of the ‘70s rarity Black Renaissance, pianist and arranger Harry Whitaker, Astral Travel debuted in 2013 with the release of the album Cosm’ethic for UK label Jazz Re:freshed, later issued on Japanese label P-Vine Records – a success that earned Cappellato the JAJ Award from Shuya Okino, acknowledging him as the year’s best new artist. A highlight of the collective’s journey so far includes performing as part of a tribute to Arthur Blythe, staged by the Steve Reid Foundation and Jaw Family in Berlin, along with Gilles Peterson, Four Tet, Floating Points, Alex Barck, Rabih Beaini and the Horace Tapscott Tribute Ensemble.